Neuropsychological evaluation in transient ischaemic attack and minor stroke

Two groups of patients with transient ischaemic attack and minor stroke without detectable haemodynamic stenotic lesions were evaluated by neuropsychological tests and compared with a control group. The mean values of the scores adjusted for age and educational background demonstrated that the patients with transient ischaemic attack did not have a worse performance than normal subjects in any of the tests, the patients with minor stroke had a worse performance than normals, particularly in Rey's figure-copying test (P less than 0.025), and the latter test was not affected by educational background or age of the subjects. The results are discussed with reference to other case series, and the importance of age and cerebral damage in causing intellectual impairment evaluated by neurophysiological tests is stressed.